| "Jugband Blues" | ||||||||||
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| Song by Pink Floyd from the album A Saucerful of Secrets | ||||||||||
| Released | June 29, 1968 (UK) July 27, 1968 (US) |
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| Recorded | October–December 1967 De Lane Lea Studios, London |
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| Genre | Psychedelic folk | |||||||||
| Length | 3:01 | |||||||||
| Writer | Syd Barrett | |||||||||
| Producer | Norman Smith | |||||||||
| A Saucerful of Secrets track listing | ||||||||||
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"Jugband Blues" is a song by British psychedelic rock band Pink Floyd, and is featured on their second album, A Saucerful of Secrets (1968).[1][2] It was written by Syd Barrett, being his sole writing contribution to the album, and also his last published for the band.
The promotional video for the song features Barrett (shown with an acoustic guitar for the first time) and the group miming to the song in a more conventional stage setting, with psychedelic projections in the background. The original audio to the promo is lost, and most versions use the BBC recording from late 1967, consequently causing sync issues most evident as Syd sings the opening verse. Roger Waters and Richard Wright switch to tuba and trombone respectively in the brass-driven instrumental break.
Barrett wanted a Salvation Army band to play on the track. They were brought in, but when he stated that he wanted them to simply "play whatever they want" regardless of the rest of the group, Norman Smith insisted on recorded parts. Eventually both versions were recorded and used.
Because of Barrett's increasingly erratic behavior, which reduced his commitment to both songwriting and recording, as well as the song's distinctive three-tiered structure (all three parts are in separate keys and in different time) some listeners believed that "Jugband Blues" was more than likely a mash-up of three or four separate Barrett demos from various points that the rest of the band spliced together, presumably to create the impression that "Jugband" was a singular, stand-alone piece; this has proven not to be the case, and "Jugband Blues" was recorded how Barrett composed it.
The song is viewed by many fans as a sad farewell piece by Barrett who, by the beginning of the recording sessions for A Saucerful of Secrets, was already shrinking into a delirious state of mind, exacerbated by his feelings of alienation from the rest of the band, as can be gleaned from the painfully specific lyrics in the song ("I don't care if the sun don't shine/ And I don't care if nothing is mine"), although it has been argued that the common interpretation of the lyrics as reflecting Barrett's dementia owes more to Barrett's popular image more than fact, and that they could be read as a criticism of the other band members for forcing him out.[3]
"Jugband Blues" is one of two songs from Saucerful included on the compilation album Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd (the other being "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun"). It is ordered near the end of the album (CD disc 2, LP disc 4), immediately following "Wish You Were Here", a song written by the rest of the band in 1975 in tribute to Barrett.
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